Today we have two video blogs. In the first, Derrick Moot discusses the state of a lucerne monoculture following the winter herbicide application for dicot weed control. Canopy development is discussed in relation to spring feed supply (approx. 2½ mins).In the second (captioned due to wind noise), Dick Lucas talks us through the reasons behind … Read more
In this video Prof Derrick Moot outlines best practice grazing management of lucerne stands in winter. Herbicide applications, plant growth and development are discussed. The implications of these winter management decisions on early spring feed supply for high priority livestock are outlined (approx. 4½ mins).
Doug Avery’s Resilient Farmer Roadshow is coming to Lincoln University on Thursday 16th July. In this talk Doug will outline the transformational change initiated on his family farm ‘Bonavaree’ in Marlborough. This will be Doug’s first talk at Lincoln University since he and his family were named South Island Farmer of the Year in 2010. Tickets … Read more
Posted on behalf of Professor Derrick Moot and Dr Keith Pollock Yes, it’s been a dry spring and summer. Not unheard of in Canterbury but more extreme than normal. At Ashley Dene, 538 mm of rain has been recorded from 1st March 2014 to 28th of Feb 2014. This is about 88% of the normal … Read more
In this video Prof Derrick Moot discusses how to effectively irrigate your lucerne stand to ensure that the applied water is used for plant growth (approx. 6 min).
Professor Derrick Moot discusses lucerne growth and stocking rates for a dryland lucerne stand as water stress conditions are starting to compromise production. The state of individual paddocks is shown and discussed in relation to grazing management (approx. 6 minutes).
Derrick Moot talks about summer grazing of lucerne (alfalfa) at Lincoln University as drought conditions are developing in this short video (approx. 3 minutes).
With drought conditions developing along the east coast we thought maybe we would throw some numbers out to put a price on how lucerne can transform dryland farming systems. Here, at Lincoln, the 2014/15 rainfall for the Jul-Dec period is about 170 mm – or about half what is expected over the same period in … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot This grazing management is based on new research out of Lincoln University. It is recommended ONLY for farmers with a large proportion (>40%) of their properties in lucerne who require greater areas to lamb on in early spring and who already follow the optimum rotational grazing management system … Read more
Post prepared by Prof. Moot, summer scholar Rebekah Brosnahan and Anna Mills Many dryland regions of New Zealand experience heavy winter rainfall that can cause periodic waterlogging in paddocks. Lucerne is more sensitive than ryegrass under flooding and this is sometimes cited as a reason not to sow lucerne in a paddock. However, after a … Read more